The
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually
shortened to the United Kingdom, U.K. or the UK) is a country situated in
the British Isles off the north-western coast of continental Europe, and
surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the
Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The
United Kingdom, often (inaccurately) referred to simply as 'Britain', is a
constitutional monarchy and a unitary state, composed by the political
union of four constituent parts: the three constituent countries of
England, Scotland, and Wales on the island of Great Britain, and the
province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The UK has several
overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, and
has sovereignty over the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the
Channel Islands. The UK has close relationships with the fifteen other
Commonwealth Realms, which share the same monarch as head of state.

H.M.
Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada

The
UK is also one of the more populous member states of the European Union
and a founding partner of both the UN (with a permanent seat on the ) and
NATO.

The
present United Kingdom is the latest of several unions formed over the
last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate political
entities since the 10th century. Wales, under the control of English
monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom
of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the
separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch
since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The
Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of
Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between
1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Independence for the now Republic of Ireland in 1922 brought the partition
of the island of Ireland, with six of the nine counties of the province of
Ulster remaining within the UK, which changed to the current name in 1929
in recognition.

The
United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th
century, played a leading role in developing Western ideas of property,
liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy—to say nothing of its
part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British
Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a
third of its population - making it the largest empire in history. The
first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted
from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half
witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into
a modern and prosperous nation.

The
UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. The attitude of the
present government towards further integration is conservative, with the
official opposition favouring a return of some powers and competencies to
the UK. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro as domestic political opinion
runs strongly against such a move, whilst the government itself has not
seen fit to advance membership based on a judgement of the economic costs
and benefits in doing so.

GOVERNMENT
and POLITICS

The
United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power
exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet
ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister,
and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These
ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the
legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be
"supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not
bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few
countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution,
relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law.

While
the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the
Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable
chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this
chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of
cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House
of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament,
though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has
been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial
past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister
is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons -
usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party,
the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the
Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997.

In
the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his
or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is
an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament")
and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create
legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been
signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has
refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since
Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been
suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in
spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually
fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10%
undecided or indifferent.
The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in
1952 and was crowned in 1953.

Parliament
is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate
legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of
parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House
of Commons and the un-elected House of Lords, whose members are mostly
appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses.
The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from
single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has
724 members (though this number is not fixed), constituted of hereditary
peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of
England is the established church of the state in England.

The
Palace of Westminster, on the banks of the River Thames

Since
the 1920s, the two largest political parties in British politics have been
the Labour Party and Conservative Party. Though coalition and minority
governments have been an occasional feature of Parliamentary politics, the
first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to
maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past
century relied upon a third party to deliver a working majority in
Parliament. The Liberal Democrats are the third major party in the UK
parliament and actively seek a reform of the electoral system to address
the dominance of the two-party system.

Though
many in the United Kingdom consider themselves 'British' as well as
'Welsh', 'English', 'Scottish' or 'Irish' (and increasingly also
'Afro-Caribbean', 'Indian' or 'Pakistani'), there has long been a
widespread sense of separate national identities in the nations of Wales
and Scotland and amongst the Catholic community in Northern Ireland.
Independence for the Republic of Ireland in 1922 provided only a partial
solution to what had been termed in the 19th Century the 'Irish Question',
and competing demands for a united Ireland or continued union with Great
Britain have brought civil strife and political instability up to the
present day.

Though
'nationalist' (as opposed to 'unionist') tendencies have shifted over time
in Scotland and Wales, with the Scottish National Party founded in 1934
and Plaid Cymru (the Party of Wales) in 1925, a serious political crisis
threatening the integrity of the United Kingdom as a state has not
occurred since the 1970s. However, increased autonomy and devolved
executive and legislative powers within the state, with both Scotland and
Wales now possessing a legislature and government alongside that for the
United Kingdom as a whole, have not reduced support for independence. The
contradictions this places upon the state may yet prove to be
considerable, where the largest constituent country England seeks no
separate legislature and is therefore governed according to the balance of
parties across the whole of the United Kingdom (see West Lothian
Question). The well-received resurgence in Celtic (Welsh, Scottish, Irish)
cultures and languages, as well as 'regional' politics and development,
contribute to the forces pulling against the unity of the state, except in
the special case of Northern Ireland (where, arguably, crisis is the
natural state) there is at present little sign of any imminent crisis.

SUBDIVISIONS

The
United Kingdom is divided into four constituent parts, commonly
referred to as the home nations:

The
constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative
subdivisions as follows:

The
regions and metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of
England

The
council areas of Scotland

The
counties and county boroughs of Wales

The
districts of Northern Ireland

The
Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and
Wales for legal purposes.

Although
all four have historically been divided into counties, England's
population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent
years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level
Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary
authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs.
Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions
would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain,
as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in
a referendum.

Also
sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally
part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the
Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing
possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the
sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

MILITARY

The
armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed
Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed
Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they
are managed by the Ministry of Defence.

Tri-service
badge of Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

Anchor
representing: Royal Navy crossed swords: Army Eagle: Royal Air Force

The
British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and
its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security
interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are
active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations.
The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive
military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are
second only to those of the United States Armed Forces.

The
British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600
women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member
Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic
nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines,
while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and
for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts
total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed
in over 80 countries.

The
UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained
for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert
operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the
World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging
capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that
any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia,
Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox
and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war
in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982,
in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was
fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign.

The
British Empire in 1897

GEOGRAPHY

Most
of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by
more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake
District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills
of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of
the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the
Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the
Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater
London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with
France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or
greater.

Scotland's
geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in
the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343
metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and
lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also
included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The
capital city is Edinburgh, the centre of which is a World Heritage Site.
The largest city is Glasgow.

Wales
is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres
(3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of
Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales.

Northern
Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The
main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry
('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World
Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000
six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feet (12 m) high.

In
total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some
being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which
was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by
natural waste building up over time.

ECONOMY

The
United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an
essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms
of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity
(PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has
greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and
has contained the growth of the Welfare State.

Agriculture
is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards,
producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK
has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production
accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial
state.

Services,
particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far
the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in
importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of
armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile
telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a
year, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination
in the world, between China (33) and Austria (19.1).

The
Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro
system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they
recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.

In
the UK, some other languages have been officially recognised as
legitimate autochthonous (regional) languages under the European
Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these,
the UK's official name is as follows:

There
is also a variant for use in Scotland, see Royal Coat of Arms of
the United Kingdom for details.
The Royal motto used in Scotland is Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
(Latin for "No-one provokes me with impunity").
Not official.
Officially recognised languages, in Wales: Welsh; and in
Scotland: Scottish Gaelic since 2005 Act. Norman French is also
used for occasional items of official business.6 Formed as United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland. Name changed to the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927.7 Official estimate provided by the UK Office for
National Statistics [1].8 ISO 3166-1 is GB, but .gb is unused

SOCIETY

Demographics

At
the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the
third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France) and the
twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of
the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in
England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and
suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United
Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public
education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in
1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is
mandatory from ages five to sixteen.

The
Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official
national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found
in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state
religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of
King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman
Catholic church and established the Church of England as the official
religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to
the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House
of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to
Lords Spiritual, Bishops of the Church of England.

A
group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been
subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and
the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries.
Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that
settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman,
Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the
Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although
Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the
predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended
from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.
The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the
closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as
Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign
Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland).
Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for
many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting
sheep.

Recent
immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages,
including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom
has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub
continent.

Culture

The
United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including
the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of
Edinburgh and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others,
Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great
scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac
Newton, Charles Darwin and
Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions
including the locomotive, vaccination, television, the railway, and both the
internal combustion, jet engine and solar powered autonomous world
navigation system, not to mention the Joystick
controlled car and the battery cartridge
refueling system for electric vehicles.

The
English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because
of the country’s empire and the influence of the United States) and is
referred to as a ‘global language’. It is taught as a second language
more than any other around the world.

Playwright
William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the
English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include
the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William
Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells, Charles Dickens, and
J.K. Rowling. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord
Tennyson and William Blake.

Notable
composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner,
William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th
and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur
Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph
Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric
Handel spent most of his composing life in England.

The
BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected network on the globe,
with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in
particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV,
Channel 4, Five and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the
three major soaps - Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale - as well as
the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows such as
Big Brother. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations,
notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office.

The
UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of
rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars,
including The Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones,
The Who, and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in
the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the
subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron
Maiden. In the mid to late 1990s, the Britpop phenomenon saw bands such as
Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also
at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as The Prodigy,
Aphex Twin, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom
is also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of
Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK. Recent rock
bands to emerge as great talents are the Kaiser Chiefs (all ex-temporary
teachers from Leeds) and Franz Ferdinand.

Lands
End to John o'Groats Cannonball ZEV Run

Sport

A
great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket,
rugby, tennis and
boxing.

The
national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not
compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home
nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK
currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However,
a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as
these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football
associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA
and the Welsh FA have declined to participate.

The
UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United,
Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in
Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on
to compete in European competitions.

British
teams are generally successful in European Competitions, including the
following European Cup/UEFA Champions League winners: Liverpool (five
times), Manchester United (twice), Nottingham Forest (twice), Aston Villa
and Celtic.

Both
forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is
generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all
over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain -
whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the
current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British
and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales
and Ireland) tour other countries.

The
Wimbledon Championships are international tennis events held in Wimbledon in
south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis
calendar.

Thoroughbred
racing is also very popular in England. It originated under Charles II of
England as the "Sport of Kings" - and is a royal pastime to this
day.

Golf
is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St
Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course. Cricket is also popular,
though this is almost exclusive to England.